The Celebrity Mercury cruise ship is reported to return back to the port a day earlier than scheduled date and also its next sail will be delayed, addressing an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness that sickened 350 passengers.

It is revealed that this is for the third cruise in a row in which some of the passengers aboard Celebrity Mercury have fallen ill, apparently with the norovirus.

The ship departed Charleston, S. C., at its scheduled time last week. On the way 350 of the 1,829 passengers aboard became sick, a spokeswoman for the cruise line told The Associated Press.

Daniel Hanrahan, President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises in a statement revealed, "The extra time we are taking to sanitize the ship will help prevent any additional guests from becoming ill".

In addition, he explained that the cleaning process will delay Mercury's next sailing by two days.

Members of the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program, which works with the cruise industry towards prevention and control of gastrointestinal illnesses, are revealed to be on the ship investigating causes of the latest wave of illness.

The Cruise Lines International Association estimates more than 14 million people to take a cruise in 2010.